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Dissertation Information for Billy R. Wilkinson

NAME:
- Billy R. Wilkinson

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1971)

ADVISORS:
- Oliver L. Lilley

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: REFERENCE SERVICES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: FOUR CASE STUDIES

Abstract:
Lamont Library, designed especially to serve

Harvard undergraduates, was opened on

January 3, 1949. Many universities have

followed Harvard in creating seperate

undergraduate librares which have served as

campus study halls, social centers, reserve

book dispensers, open shelf browsing

collections, audio-visual facilities, and

centers for reference assistance. Although

descriptions of undergraduate libraries

exist in the literature of librarianship, no

studies attempt to evaluate particular

services.

The major purpose of this study is to

identify and evaluate reference services for

undergraduate on university campuses-- both

in the undergraduate and main university

libraries. The University of Michigan with

its Undergraduate and General Libraries and

Cornell University with its Uris and John M.

Olin Libraries were chosen as case studies.

Reference services for university

undergraduates are then contrasted with

those at the liberal arts colleges of

Swarthmore and Earlham.

For each institution, the historical

development of library services is traced

and data are presented on all services

provided for undergraduates. Against this

background, current reference services and

library instruction programs are described.

To ascertain the actual use made of

professional reference staffs and to

determine the types of questions

(information, reference, search, or problem

question) asked by undergraduates, reference

desk activity was monitored at selected

times during September-December, 1969.

An auxiliary study was undertaken at the

union catalogs of Michigan's General Library

and Cornell's Olin Library to determine if

unassisted use by undergraduates of the

union catalog increased use of the main

library and decreased use of the

undergraduate library. Undergraduate users

were interviewed during five-day periods at

Michigan and Cornell.

It was found that:

1) The Michigan and Cornell undergraduate

libraries both experienced an increase in

the number of substantial reference

questions during their first years.

However., more recently, the quantity of

reference questions has declined.

2) Communications between the staff in

undergraduate libraries and university

faculty concerning reference services for

students have been minimal when contrasted

with the more extensive communications

between liberal arts college librarians and

faculty.

3) No effective means of stimulating use of

reference services (such as integrating

bibliographical lectures by librarians with

courses at the exact time students have need

of such assistance) have been developed by

undergraduate libraries. In contrast,

Earlham librarians have developed an

extensive program of library instruction

integrated with courses.

4) The types of questions asked by

undergraduates at reference desks in main

university libraries, undergraduate

libraries on the same campus, and college

libraries varied, but among the more

substantial reference questions,

bibliographical assistance with the

library's own catalogs and holdings was the

most numerous type of question, except at

Swarthmore where bibliographical

verififcation of materials not on the campus

was most numerous.

5) Unassisted use by undergraduates of the

union catalog increased use of the main

library and decreased use of the

undergraduate library. Many students (59% at

Michigan and 75.6% at Cornell) had not used

the undergraduate library's catalog before

going to the union catalog.

Other findings: (1) a very brief time was

spent by librarians with individual

students: (2) librarians raarely initiated

reference encounters: (3) evening hours were

busier than afternoon hours at the

undergraduate library reference desks: (4)

counseling of students in a reader's

advisory capacity was a small portion of

reference activity: and (5) informal

personal instruction to students in the use

of the library also constituted only a small

part of reference services.

At the dedication of Harvard's Lamont

Library, Harvie Branscomb suggested "that at

last we shall have found a way to bridge the

oft-discussed gap between class [two lines

blurred] that full advantage has no been

taken of the opportunities afforded by the

creation of undergraduate libraries.

Librarians in the Michigan and Cornell

undergraduate libraries have not closed the

gap between class instruction and reference

services.

MPACT Scores for Billy R. Wilkinson

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:01:43

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Students under Billy R. Wilkinson

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None